Nightmare
by Kimmae
Summary: The nightmare that Katie refuses to share. Spoiler scene from the movie. T because of potty mouth.


_I do not own Paramount Pictures or its affiliates. Consider this a disclaimer to the characters/ideas presented in this story._

_Inspiration from the piece "East Hastings" by Godspeed, You! Black Emperor. You might recognize the title from _28 Days Later_, but I'm talking about the later half of the piece, the part you likely didn't hear. Ypu'll know what I'm talking about when you hear it._

_I couldn't remember what happened exactly and what words were said verbatim, so this is me improvising. If you know of something that I don't, let me know._

Nightmare

By Kimmae

The only thing Katie was sure of was that she was asleep, and what she was seeing was not real. It was a far off realization, however; a hazy understanding that she was not conscious, but an even hazier conception that she did not want to see what was in the attic.

She was in her childhood home, but Katie herself wasn't a child. She could hear her family downstairs. Her mother and father were in the kitchen probably, for she could hear the tap running and muted words being exchanged from below. Her sister might've been at the kitchen table, colouring in a picture of a Disney Princess like she used to, with every shade of crayon there was to use. Katie felt paralyzed by this thought, because she somehow knew that if she screamed for them, Amber wouldn't so much as look up from the page in curiosity. Somehow, Katie knew she was cut off as she stared up at the attic door.

There was a faint scratching sound, the kind that could be mistaken for a squirrel or a mouse clambering through the insulation and discarded things that were left behind up there. But Katie knew what it was, and she wouldn't want to see it. She would want to run away downstairs and stand next to her parents, she would want to feel protection in numbers, and she certainly wouldn't want to be alone and investigate what was scratching at the walls in there. But Katie wasn't aware of any of these things, only the deep underlying fear that she could feel in the pit of her gut as she reached up and pulled down the step ladder.

Cold air fell down on her face like a gentle caress as she pulled the stairs down, and she shivered as she started climbing the steps. The further she got, the more aware she was that she did not want to be climbing up there, and that she could not stop and turn back, no matter how much she wanted to. The fear spread through her belly and crept into her arms and her legs, but she could feel it most behind her eyes as they bugged wider with each step she took.

Katie could feel the scream trapped in her throat as she climbed into the dark and was lost.

She wasn't in the attic anymore. She couldn't hear the dishes running, nor could she hear the faint chatter that assured her someone was nearby. She couldn't feel her body, and she had the oddest feeling of vertigo, like she was moving along somewhere, but she didn't have the body to do it. There was no light in this place. It didn't exist here.

She heard something shift, like someone crawling across the ground slowly. It echoed, like she was in a huge space with no walls or things; a giant void where nothing but the most unspeakable fear existed, fear which was inhumanly possible.

But she wasn't human anymore.

There was a far off roar, and Katie wanted to scream her lungs dry, but she could not. She had no mouth, nor lungs. Other noises. A sound reverberated from far off, then came close so quickly she was permeated with something beyond terror that she didn't think existed. It blew up like a bout of steam right next to her, and she felt the scream that couldn't come pain her beyond meaning. She had no eyes, but she could see, she had no ears, but she could hear, and suddenly she didn't want to. She wanted to die, if it meant that would relinquish her from this place.

_But I'm already dead_, she thought. _This is hell_.

There were more distant roars and screams, and Katie tried to run away, but she could not. She kept falling in that still vertigo, and the roars and screams became alien sounds which horrified her more. Then, suddenly, they grew close. Something growled—no, it wasn't a growl, but there was no other way she could describe it—right next to her, and the fear became nothing short of insanity. Then she saw a shape darker than the blackness in front of her.

It spoke to her in a guttural growl of words she couldn't understand, but she felt heated terror build up in her all the same.

"Mine," it snarled at the end, and two enormous claws clamped down on her shoulders and pulled her up.

The scream which had been tearing at her being suddenly flew from her lips, and light came back to her. The pull brought her upwards in bed, and through the horror that still plagued her, she realized that she was alive and awake, and Micah was beside her.

"Katie, what's wrong?" he said, his voice quiet with unnerved worry. She'd scared him; perhaps the fear was still radiating off of her, and he could feel it just as much as she.

"I just had a nightmare," she managed, clutching her chest and trying to catch her breath. _I'm still having a nightmare_, she thought. Her heart beat wildly beneath her ribs, and the feeling of that hellish place still loomed over her head, and it possessed her with an inescapable dread that she would never be able to get away from it.

And it had pulled her up out of bed. She could still feel its hands on her shoulders—

There was a noise downstairs.

"What's that?" Katie said, automatically sidling next to Micah. Protection in numbers. It did nothing to dissipate the fear that constantly plagued her.

They were silent, listening for the sound from somewhere downstairs. The silence was almost worse than the noises themselves, she thought; it could be anything, and whatever it was, it could be anywhere. It had never hurt her physically before, this thing that Doctor Fredrichs had called a demon, but that wasn't what horrified her. It was knowing that she couldn't run away.

_Mine._

A roar came from downstairs—the same roars from her nightmare—then the house shook as something crashed heavily from somewhere down below.

Katie couldn't even feel herself scream.

"What the fuck!" Micah yelled, clutching on to her arms. She cowered against him, trying to close her eyes and will this thing away, but she couldn't. The terror kept them open, and she watched the doorway wildly, hoping she wouldn't see it step in, hoping it wouldn't clamp down on her shoulders and drag her away to that place again.

Micah got out of bed, then went to the camera they had set up by the window.

"Micah, what are you doing?" she cried quietly, crawling over the bed towards him, wanting to be as physically close to him as possible to feel safer.

"I'm going to see what happened," he muttered, detaching it from the tripod and starting off towards the hallway.

"Nononono, please don't leave me here!" Katie wailed quietly, looking up at him with fear-broken eyes.

"Come with me, then."

The last thing Katie wanted to do was move. She didn't want to stay in that house, but at the same time, she did not want to go anywhere downstairs. The most optimal thing would be to cease existing at that moment, the horror hurt so much.

"No!" she begged.

"Come with me, come on."

Micah turned on the light, then took Katie's hand gently, leading her out of bed. She held his hand so tightly, he was sure she could twist it off if she wanted to.

They walked to the top of the stairs, just outside their room, then Micah descended the first couple steps, turning the camera towards the living room.

"Holy shit," he muttered.

"What, what?"

"Look at the chandelier," he said, and Katie followed him down the steps, standing next to him.

"Oh, my God," she said, her voice wavering. The chandelier swung back and forth lazily, swinging from the impact of whatever had crashed down there.

"Do you think it was a couch or something?" Micah asked.

"What?"

"Like a couch fell down or something."

"I—I dunno, let's just go—"

"Whoa," Micah muttered, turning the camera towards the opposite wall. "You hear that?"

Katie didn't answer him. The walls creaked quietly, as if something rolled upwards from the inside. The sound came from all over the house. It almost sounded like a whisper, and Micah briefly thought he could hear a voice whispering to them.

"What is that?" Katie muttered. The sound stopped.

"Let's go," Micah said quietly, obviously unnerved, slowly walking upstairs. Katie backed up slowly with him, and both watched the chandelier as it swung slowly back and forth. For a second, Katie could almost see the thing sitting atop it as it rocked, watching her closely and grinning it's inhuman grin.

When they got back into the room, Katie stood next to the bed as Micah went to the tripod to reattach the camera. Katie heard a new noise—something faint and distant. She was suddenly brought back to that void, listening to the alien sounds in the distance. Her eyes grew wide and she froze.

Micah turned around, still holding the camera, and looked at Katie with a similar expression. "You hear that?" he whispered. She looked to him, then nodded.

"What is that?"

"I don't know," she returned, fighting back the will to scream.

They stood listening to the sound, like a thing sliding up the walls, then Micah attached the camera to the tripod and went to Katie, holding her close. She clutched to him like a lifeline, fearing that if she let go, _it_ would take her away.

They climbed into bed, and Micah muttered: "Let's get some sleep," but neither of them laid themselves down. Katie's eyes stayed locked to the doorway, and she leaned into Micah's embrace as he settled close to her, too. She wouldn't sleep tonight.

_Mine._


End file.
